Create a ring from a marshmallow and a butter cookie.

To make Engagement Ring Cupcakes, you’ll need the following ingredients:
• 1 box Salerno butter cookies or a similarly shaped store brand
• 1 bag regular-size marshmallows
• 1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips
• Supplies for your favorite cupcake or cookie recipe

I used to love Salerno butter cookies (you know the ones—flower-shaped with a hole in the middle) because I could slip them over my fingers and pretend I was wearing a row of sparkly diamond rings. That probably wouldn’t be as cute these days, but the idea of a butter-cookie ring definitely can be.

To pull it off, bake a dessert—any dessert—with a round top, such as a chocolate cupcake or a sugar cookie. While the batch is in the oven, cut one marshmallow into a triangle by slicing a small wedge off of each side, so the top of the marshmallow is the original width but the bottom now ends in a point. Cut off the tip of your newly created marshmallow triangle and—voila—it will look like a diamond. Take one butter cookie and use a knife to cut out a segment the size of the bottom of the marshmallow diamond—but be as light as you can with the knife, as the cookies break easily. Repeat for the number of cupcakes or cookies you are baking.

After your desserts have cooled, melt a bowl of chocolate chips in the microwave (one 12-ounce bag should be enough for 24 cupcakes), then use a knife to spread the melted chocolate on each cupcake or cookie. Before the chocolate dries, press the butter cookie and marshmallow onto it as shown in the photo to create an “engagement ring” that’s almost as good as the real thing.

Planning a themed shower and stumped for dessert ideas? E-mail me at mconrad@washingtonian.com, and I’ll try to whip up a Sweet Talk post just for you.

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